By now, most of you will have received a copy of the employer’s letter dated April 14, 2010. Unfortunately, the letter does not respond to the concerns raised by the Union during negotiations and identified in previous bulletins but simply regurgitates the employer’s misleading and uninformative position on some of its own proposals.

Although the RSMC Negotiating Committee has repeatedly requested that the employer provide information to support its proposals, the employer seems unable to provide any rational support for such proposals.

For example, the employer has not explained how paying members a “recognition payment” in 2010 and extending the Corporate Team Incentive (CTI) to members in 2011 financially benefits the membership.  As the employer continues to insist that such payments will be taken from the financial cap the end result of the employer making such payments is that there will be less money in the financial cap for other financial benefits such as wage increases and improvements in other benefits, such as paid leaves and health care plans.

The employer has also not explained why the issue of an increase in the number of personal days cannot be uncoupled from its demand for a short-term disability plan (STD) and dealt with as a separate issue by the parties as was done during the previous re-opener.

In respect of the STD the employer has not explained why RSMC members should not be entitled to paid sick leave that is similar in nature to the benefits provided to members covered by the Urban Operations collective agreement.  As well, the employer has never provided any costing figures for its proposal and the Union is not prepared to blindly accept any employer proposal that is not properly costed.

The Union has a similar concern with the employer’s proposed drug plan.  No rational explanation has ever been given to the Negotiating Committee as to why the employer is proposing a drug plan for RSMC members which includes higher employee premiums and more restrictive eligibility requirements than those applying to all other unionized employees at Canada Post.

Finally, with reference to the employer’s wage proposals, the employer has never explained why wage increases to individual RSMC members would be determined on the basis of where a member lives and works.  All other collective agreements at Canada Post provide that the wage rate is based on the work performed and not on the basis of where one lives or works.

Employer Statements at Odds with Reality

The most disquieting part of the employer letter is contained in the final paragraph wherein it is stated that the employer “would prefer to return to the bargaining table” and “is ready to return to the bargaining table”.  These statements are totally at odds with reality and either reflects that the author of the letter is not being kept honestly apprised of events at negotiations by the employer’s negotiating committee or has chosen to spread misinformation to the membership.

The reality is that throughout the negotiations it was the Union who continued to push for discussions between the parties in the face of an unreasonable, unforthcoming and intransigent employer.  And, as well, following the Union’s referral of unresolved matters to interest arbitration, the Union indicated to the employer that it was willing to continue negotiations  It was the employer who stated it was not prepared to continue negotiations.

If the employer was really serious about attempting to resolve the workplace issues affecting RSMC members, it would return to the bargaining table and deal with the representatives of the Union in a reasonable and positive manner, instead of spending its time and resources sending untruthful and incomplete messages to the membership.

SHOP STEWARDS NEED TO BRING THIS INFORMATION TO THE ATTENTION OF THE MEMBERS DURING REGULAR WEEKLY SHOP FLOOR MEETINGS.